Dusk
by oOAliceOo
Summary: Canada and America have travled to London in order to meet up with their parents. They had it all planned out, except for the sudden infection that is turning all the inhabitants of England into flesh eating zombies. Character death, mild swearing, ect.
1. The Beginning

**AN: Ok, so I haven't written anything in awhile so you'll have to forgive me if it sucks. I've wanted to write a zombie fic for awhile now and my friends have finally encouraged me to write one. So… Here it is. Let me know if there are any errors, constructive criticism is welcomed, but please don't be mean.**

Darkness blanketed the once magnificent city of London. A plethora of groans could be heard echoing throughout the area, as could the occasional scream. Smoke from various fires had filled the once pure air. Dark red painted the streets and buildings. Bodies littered every nook and cranny of the city. All the flesh on their bodies had been mostly eaten away, and the parts that lingered had begun to decompose. The dead bodies that weren't lying on the street were up and moving. Looking for new victims, people with hearts that still continued to beat. Moaning and groaning as they limped down the streets and alley ways. Loose flesh that just wouldn't let go hung from their slowly decaying bodies and blood dripped from their mouths. Blankness took precedence in their eyes, if they even had any eyes left to speak of. They were void of feeling, void of any emotions at all. These… Things… These zombies felt no compassion when they sunk their teeth into their next victim. No matter if it was a young child, an elderly person, or anything of the like. All they knew was hunger. The immense hunger that drove them to keep hobbling down the streets, searching for their next meal.

As the zombies continued looking for fresh meat, said meat took any and all precautions to avoid becoming a zombie's next meal. Using the dark as a cover from the undead monsters. Small groups of people here and there were constantly on the run. Survival was the main thing on their mind. Some groups were well prepared and lucky, they were able to evade the undead, and even the living threats sometimes, while there were always those few who were unable to do so. Those who were ill prepared and not able to properly combat the zombie menace. The ones who weren't so lucky were eaten without a second thought. Some even to be reanimated into the very creatures they had once run from. There were two twins, however, that were hell bent on surviving this nightmare and remaining in the 'lucky' category of survivors. Just before the incident had occurred these two had flown in from New York to visit their parents.

**xXxXxXxXx**

"Ugh, we're finally here!" The American sighed as he stretched his arms over his head, "I feel like we've been on that plane forever!"

"I-It was only seven hours." The Canadian said quietly as he followed his twin out of the airplane, carrying both his and his brother's carryon bags. "I thought you'd be used to long flights by now, Alfred, with all the traveling you do."

"Mattie, no matter how much I travel I will NEVER get used to flights like this. Playing my PSP gets super boring after awhile you know?" The younger of the two just shook his head and continued towards the baggage claim area. After they had successfully spotted and apprehended all their bags (most of which Matthew ended up carrying) they headed to the hotel they would stay at that night. With the flight they had picked they ended up arriving later in the night. Both brothers and their parents had decided it would be best to stay at a hotel the night they arrived and then take a taxi up to the house in the morning. The hotel they had picked was decent, nothing to over the top or amazing but it was nice nonetheless.

The room, the whole hotel rather, was spick and span. Nothing to complain about. Once in the room, Alfred rushed to the bed and dove onto it, laughing as he did so.

"Ah bed, how I have missed you. I wouldn't even think of comparing you to those nasty plane seats." He sighed contently into the down comforter of the hotel bed.

"I wish they had rooms open with two beds…" Matthew grumbled as hit set the bags down on the floor.

"Aw, c'mon Mattie~ We can cuddle together and tell ghost stories like we used to when we were kids!" the American said happily as he flipped over so he was on his back, staring up at the ceiling.

"I'm more focused on sleep, it took an hour to get from the airport to the hotel when it only should've taken twenty minutes at most."

A serious look replaced the happy one on Alfred's face. "Yeah, all those police cars were on the road…. I wonder what happened? I think I heard someone shooting a gun…"

Matthew shrugged as he walked over to the bed and flopped down next to his brother. "I 'dunno, all I know is I'm too freaking tired to even change." Alfred laughed lightly.

"Same, I can't even move anymore I'm so tired." He said with a smile. Then the hotel room was filled with silence. Alfred looked over at Matthew and noticed he had fallen asleep. The younger had always been one to fall asleep quickly. Another smile graced the American's face as he leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to his younger brother's forehead. "G'night Mattie." Soon, he too drifted out of consciousness.

Alfred awoke to loud, blood curdling screams. They were coming from everywhere, outside, in the hall ways, everywhere. Alfred was the first to get up. He walked over to the door and looked through the peep hole. There was nothing for a little while then, right before he was about to walk away, a girl ran in front of their door and down the hall, screaming at the top of her lungs. Alfred couldn't understand why she was running, then he saw another figure pass their door and after the girl. It looked to be a middle aged man with chestnut brown hair and an expensive looking suit on. Everything seemed normal about him except for the blood dripping from his mouth and the strange limp he had in his step.

**xXxXxXxXx**

"ALFRED!" The American jumped, he had thought his brother was still asleep but he turned around and saw him standing out on the balcony, staring down at the street. "Alfred, come over here!" His voice was laced with fear. Without arguing for once in his life, Alfred did as he was told. He slowly made his way over to where his little brother was standing. Hesitantly he looked over the edge. It was a scene of chaos down there. Dead bodies were strewn about the street. People were running in all different directions. Guns were being fired. Stores were being looted. Words couldn't even begin to describe what the twins were currently seeing. Matthew whimpered quietly, on the verge of tears. He clutched at his older brothers' arm as he stared down at the scene before him.

"W-What's going o-AHHH!" A body fell from the sky and right in front of their balcony. It had most likely come from one of the rooms above them. Matthew buried his face in the elders' shoulder and Alfred placed a hand on his heard comfortingly.

"Shh… It's ok, I'm right here." He cooed soothingly, trying not to let the fear show in his voice. Alfred dared to take another look over the balcony. In the minute or so when he hadn't been looking upon the chaotic scene below things had seem to have gotten much worse. A man ran down the street on fire screaming. There was a group of maybe three or four people circled around a body, they appeared to be… Eating it? Two people were chasing after a woman. Her high heel broke which sent her tumbling to the unforgiving pavement. The two people that had been chasing her then swarmed over her body. She was trying to crawl away, to escape, but it was a futile attempt. Alfred had seen enough.

"Mattie, were going back in," he stated as calmly as he possibly could, if he started to freak out he knew that would also affect Matthew so he needed to try and act calm, ", Turn on the news, ok?" He closed the door to the balcony and shut the curtains. Then, he started to head towards the door but Matthew clutched tightly to his arm.

"Don't leave me!" he exclaimed, looking up into his brother's ocean blue eyes, fear was etched out all over his face and tears had begun to well up in his eyes. A small, sad smile found its way onto the American's face. He pulled Matthew into a tight hug, trying his best to calm the younger.

"Don't worry Mattie… I would never leave you alone ever; I'm just going to look out the peep hole again quickly. I'm not going to leave. I promise." Matthew sniffed once before nodding his head in understanding then he went to turn on the TV. Alfred slowly made his way, once more, to the door. Hesitantly, he brought one eye up to the little glass hole in the door only to see another face that was covered in blood staring back at him. He quickly put his hands over his mouth in order to prevent himself from screaming. The person wasn't there for much longer though. A scream could be heard a little ways down the hall and both Alfred and the person outside seemed to hear it. It slowly moved away from the door and down the hall. A sigh of relief slipped out of the American's lips once the person was gone.

"A-Al… I found the channel." Matthew murmured. Alfred turned around to face his little brother who was staring intently at the TV. He clutched tightly to the black TV remote and was visibly shaking. The American walked over to him and wrapped an arm comfortingly around him as he watched the news cast on TV.

"_… not sure how far its spread. We must inform everyone to stay indoors. Do not travel outside for any reason. If you come in contact with the infected, the most efficient method of termination would be decapitating them or destroying their brain. I repeat decapitation or destroying their brain! Do no- Hey, what's going on? Wait, wha-? AHHH-!_"

Then the broadcast cut off and switched to a rainbow screen which read: _We're sorry, but this broadcast is no longer available. _The two were silent for a little while, both taking in what the man had said before the transmission was lost.

"Apparently it's some sort of… Disease… That's all I got though, I-I'm not really sure what's going on besides that…" Matthew whispered, then a look of pure horror came across the young Canadian's face, "ALFRED! MOM AND DAD! DO YOU THINK THEY'RE OK?" Alfred couldn't answer that one. Even he didn't know. He wanted nothing more than to put not only his brother's mind at ease, but his own as well. But he couldn't…

"I don't know Ma-"

"WE HAVE TO GO FIND THEM!" Matthew rushed towards the door but Alfred restrained him before he could get very far. "What are you doing? Alfred, we have to find them!" He struggled to get free of his brother's grasp but the American just held tighter.

"Matthew, listen!" Alfred exclaimed, trying to hold his brother still, "We will go find them, but first we need to make a plan and gather a few things! We can't just rush out there with things like they are now!" Matthew stopped struggling and slumped in defeat. He cried softly and Alfred felt a pang of guilt surge through his body.

"Listen, I'm sure they're fine. Mom and Dad are tough, they can handle themselves. Besides, I'm sure Dad'll fend off the crazies with his cooking." He forced a chuckle; he had to cheer Matthew up, at least a little. Matthew sniffled and rubbed the tears from his eyes before he turned to face his brother.

"Y-You're right, I'm sorry… What do we need to do before we go?"

"Bring anything you think you might need, don't bring anything that would be deemed as unnecessary, put it in your backpack." He pointed at his American flag printed backpack and his brother's Canadian flag printed one, "Also, find something that could be used as a weapon. I would like to avoid fighting as much as we can but we may need to at some point." Matthew nodded and immediately started looking through his belongs to find items they might need later, Alfred did the same. Not finding much in his bags but a couple candy bars and two bottles of water (because Matthew had refused to let him buy coke at the air port), Alfred began to search around the hotel room for other items or weapons. Canada had found a small first aid kit and a camera but that was all, he couldn't believe how little they had, they didn't even need two back packs. Then he came upon Kumajiro, the cute little stuffed polar bear he had received from his dad when he was seven.

No matter where he had gone he had always made sure to bring Kumajiro along with him. He always comforted him when he was scared and when his brother wasn't there to comfort him. He clutched the bear tightly. Matthew wanted to wake up. Wanted to be free of this nightmare. People were dying all around and then getting up and eating each other. This couldn't be real. Soon, he knew he'd wake up snuggled close to Alfred in their hotel bed.

"Hey… Alfred… Can I bring Kuma with?" Matthew asked quietly, turning his head towards the elder. Alfred looked over at Matthew and smiled softly at him.

"Yeah, of course Mattie. He's important to you." Matthew smiled back at him and held Kumajiro tighter.

"Oh, did you find anything?"

Alfred sighed. "No, not really. I figured the hotel wouldn't mind at this point so I broke off two legs of an end table. Not much of a variety in here. We should maybe grab what we can from the bathroom too, just in case." Matthew nodded and headed into the bathroom with the backpack and Kumajiro in hand. A few minutes later he returned.

"You ready?" he asked quietly. Alfred nodded.

"As I'll ever be I suppose." The two made their way over to the door. Matthew looked out the peep hole to check for possible threats.

"We're good to go." He said, looking at Alfred.

"Ok, I'm going to open the door on three… One… Two… Three!"


	2. On The Run

**I'm so sorry it took so long! I've been busy lately with lots of things, including my 4****th**** of July fic that I wrote for America's birthday. I feel absolutely horrible for not updating for so long. Here it is finally, I made it a little longer than the last because I felt bad about taking so long. (Not much though, mind you.) **

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story except for the story idea itself.**

Once the two had emerged from their room they were quite surprised to find it empty, save for a few dead bodies. Lucky for them. Matthew clutched Kumajiro even tighter upon seeing the dead bodies. He had never seen one so close before. Just on the news and in the crime shows he rarely watched. America noticed this.

"Don't worry Mattie; just try to pretend like they're not there…" he knew that was a big thing to ask, considering it's hard to ignore something as awful as a dead body, but there wasn't much he could do. Then, he handed one of the end table legs to Matthew. "Can you put Kumajiro in the backpack? I'm sure there's enough room in there. It'll be easier to fight with him in there anyway." Matthew nodded and slid the backpack off his shoulders and set it on the floor. He unzipped it and carefully slid the bear in. Kumajiro fit in there perfectly so he was able to zip up the backpack again with ease. Then he picked it up again and returned it to its original place on his back.

Matthew took the end table leg from his brother and gripped it tightly. Taking one more look down both areas of the hall way, Alfred decided it was time to start moving, before some of the infected people started showing up.

"Ready?" he asked, looking at Matthew.

"Y… Yeah, let's go." The two walked quickly down the hallway and towards the elevators. Once they reached them Alfred pressed the down button to the right of the elevator. It lit up and the number above the elevator slowly climbed up. Just then, all the lights shut off and the number above the elevator disappeared. He heard Matthew whimpering slightly to his left and he blindly reached for his hand. Once he found it, he squeezed it tightly and tried pressing the elevator button once more. Nothing happened, he knew nothing would, but he had to try anyway.

"Shit…" he murmured under his breath. It was pitch black in the hotel and the elevator was broken. You think it wouldn't have hurt to install some windows maybe? "Ok Mattie, we're going to have to find the stai-" A groan could be heard not too far away from the twins. Matthew squeezed Alfred's hand tighter. Alfred's heart skipped a beat. There was a momentary silence. Then it could be heard again, slightly closer this time. He had to think quickly, they were at a major disadvantage here. Three hallways, one behind them, one to the left, and one to the right. Again, there was a groan. It seemed to be coming from the right, closer to Alfred. They needed to act fast; the noise was slowly closing in on them.

"Mattie," he whispered, "We need to go to your left. Just walk slowly and carefully, feel along the walls, and don't let go of my hand, ok?" Matthew nodded but then felt stupid for doing so because it was pitch black in the hotel and his brother couldn't see him at all. Then, he opted for a vocal response.

"Yeah, ok…" Slowly, the two made their way down the hallway. The groans steadily got farther away. Everything was looking good so far until Matthew tripped over something. He screamed and let go of Alfred's hand as he fell to the floor.

"Mattie!" Alfred exclaimed, trying to find his brother in the dark, "Mattie are you ok?"

"I think so…" He felt around for the wall and found something soft instead. Searching a bit more he started to realize what he had found instead of the wall. "Oh my god, I'm on a dead body!" He quickly backed up till his back met wall and he tried to keep himself from throwing up. Meanwhile, Alfred was still trying to find him. It was proving to be a much more difficult task then he would've liked. His eyes hadn't completely adjusted to the dark yet and, unfortunately, Matthew did not seem to be glow in the dark. Then he remembered he hadn't taken his cell phone out of his pocket before he went to bed. Quickly he searched his pockets until he pulled out the iPhone he had received as an early birthday present from his parents. When he pressed the button to turn it on his eyes were assaulted by the light. A moment was taken for his eyes to adjust before he was able to punch in his password.

He then franticly moved the light around the dark hallway, trying to find his brother. The light fell on him; he was backed up against a wall a little ways away, sitting next to a small end table. A body lay on the floor directly across from him. Alfred inched over to Matthew and helped him up off the floor. Another loud moan came from behind the two and Alfred turned the light to where the noise was coming from. This person was obviously infected. Once the light found its target you could tell right away. Blood dripped from its mouth and from various others injuries on its body. In her previous state this woman, if you could even call her that now, would have been extremely pretty. She was in a semi-formal outfit, most likely on her way to work. Her husband had probably given her a quick goodbye kiss before she had left and her kids gave her a big hug and wished her a safe trip. It sickened Alfred to know that this woman was surely not moments ago a normal, non-flesh eating person like Matthew and himself. Just the thought her family never being able to see her again was heart wrenching, but he couldn't think about that now.

The woman inched closer and Matthew squeaked a little and clutched onto his brothers hand tightly. In response, Alfred gripped the wooden table leg tighter. He flashed the light of his phone all around the hallway until he spotted a sign that read 'Stairs'. Alfred smiled but then noticed that, not only was the one infected lady getting slowly closer, but now the body that Matthew had previously tripped over had started to twitch and move. There weren't many obstacles preventing them from reaching the stairs and it wasn't a very far distance they had to go, they could make it as long as these things weren't able to move at a very fast speed. Over the time he had spent watching the infected people move, Alfred had noticed that it seemed to vary. Some of them seemed very capable of running, while others tended to have a limp or just be slower in general. In his mind he silently prayed that these were the ones that couldn't run.

"Mattie," he whispered to his brother, "You see over there? We need to get to that door. Don't think about anything else until you're through there, ok?"

"O…OK…" Matthew said as he turned and quickly made his way over to the door. Alfred started baking towards it slowly, not once taking his eyes of the woman in front of him. Every step he took she took one to match it. Soon, the body on the floor proceeded to make its way to an upright standing position. It turned its head so it was looking the American. Its lifeless brown eyes gazed into the bright blue ones. Suddenly he froze, he wanted to move, he did, but his feet wouldn't cooperate. He was shaking like mad. The things took another step closer, he stayed where he was.

"Al…?" Matthew whispered, he sounded slightly panicked as he called over to his frozen brother. He wanted to respond but none of his body would listen to what he was telling it to do. _'Shit, no, not good, c'mon Al, MOVE!' _he thought but nothing. They moved closer now, inch by inch they were getting dangerously closer. "Alfred!" Matthew shouted, he sounded almost frantic this time. Now the pair was getting way to close for comfort, Alfred told his arm to swing the table leg but only managed to tighten his grip on it. This is bad; the hero shouldn't be freezing up like this! Not when there was a damsel (Matthew) who needed to be protected! Suddenly he felt himself being pulled back; his feet went along with the sudden movement. It took him awhile to realize what was going on but he understood what had happened when he found himself in the stairwell, being hugged tightly by his younger brother.

"You IDIOT!" the Canadian shouted in between sobs, "What were you thinking? Don't scare me like that!" Slowly he was regaining control of his body; he wrapped his arms around Matthew.

"I know… I'm so sorry Matt… I just… I couldn't move, I don't know what came over me bu-" A groan coming from a little ways up the stairwell interrupted him. "We can't stay here, let's keep moving." Matthew took hold of his brothers' shirt with his free hand so he didn't lose him before the two raced down the stairs, miraculously not running into any more of the infected the whole way down. They finally reached the bottom of the stairwell. Alfred used his phone find out which door had the 'Exit' sign above it. He looked from the wooden leg in his right hand to the phone in his left before he looked over at his brother who still had a few stay tears running down his cheeks.

"Mattie, mind taking a look outside? My hands are kinda full." Matthew nodded once and whipped the tears from his eyes before he walked over to the door. Hesitantly, he opened the door a crack and peeked his head out. It was a wreck out there. Cars were flipped over, one store was on fire, and dead bodies were all over, on the ground or moving around on the streets. "How's it looking out there bro?"

"Not good I'm afraid… There's well over 20 of those things out there. " Matthew replied, biting his bottom lip.

"Ugh… Are there any close to the door at all? Do you think we could sneak by somehow?" Matthew scanned the area once more. Most of the zombies were rather far from where the twins currently were, which was lucky for them.

"There seems to be about three or four that could be considered close. I think if we're really careful we could easily sneak by them without being noticed. You can turn your phone off now if you want, because it's brighter out here."

"Oh, right!" Alfred said and he quickly turned off his phone and put it back into his pocket. "You remember how to get to their house, right?" Matthew nodded his head.

"Of course, I don't forget things as easily as you do. It'd be about… 25 minutes to get there by car from here so it might take around an hour or two at least, depending on how fast we travel and if we run into any obstacles."

"Ugh… Ok, fine, when you think it's safe to go then go out the door. I'll be right behind you the whole time." The Canadian nodded his head once more and stared out the crack in the door for awhile before he started heading out. Alfred, like he had said before, followed his brother out the door. They slid along the brick wall of the hotel, trying to stay hidden. The pair had no idea if the zombies could even see them or not but they had to be careful just in case. If they could just remain quiet then it shouldn't be a problem, none of the infected were currently paying them much heed, luckily, their attentions had been drawn away by a scream that rung in the twins' ears. When they were slightly farther from the threatening group of creatures, Matthew felt it was safe to at least whisper to the other. "We'll have to stick to main roads unfortunately; I didn't think I'd need to find any alternate routes…" He said, a worried look flashed across his face, assuming that more of the infected would likely be lingering on the main roads, "… And I don't know the city too well…"

"It should be fine though," Alfred said, starting to understand why Matthew seemed to be worried about such a thing, "As long as we keep quiet and stay in the shadows."

Matthew nodded his head slightly. "I think we should probably start moving a little faster," he started, scanning the street that lay ahead of them, "It seems to be fairly clear. Stay close Al, I… I don't want to lose you."

"Of course." Alfred smiled reassuringly at the younger before they started up a steady jog.

**xXxXxXxXx**

The two had been moving for awhile, taking the occasional rest here and there and ducking into an alley once in awhile to avoid the infected. So far, their journey had seemed successful; they had made it quite the distance without anything bad happening. Although, of course, one could not expect such luck to continue for long. They had just turned a corner onto a street that a good number of zombies. Matthew almost came in contact with a metal garbage can that had been precariously placed right around the corner but he managed to swerve and miss it miraculously. The same could not have been said about his twin. Before the young Canadian had, had the chance to warn his brother of the specific obstacle he found said boy crashing into it. Alfred had managed, somehow, to keep his balance, but the trash can, on the other hand, wasn't as fortunate as he. Upon impact, it made a loud crashing noise and spilled out its previous contents. This caused all eyes to fall upon the now helpless twins.

"Shit…" Alfred muttered, the zombies started moving towards them, "Not good, c'mon Mattie!" He started running towards a different than the one they had come by, checking to make sure Matthew was following behind, thankfully he was. Some of the zombies had started moving a little faster and the pair all but sprinted down their new path, avoiding the zombies on the street as best they could. Alfred ran past one of the rotting figures but was suddenly jerked back. The thing had caught onto the hood of his Boston Bruins sweatshirt. Matthew had accidently passed Alfred, but skidded to a halt once he realized what had happened. He started to run back towards his brother and the zombie. Raising his wooden end table leg in the air, he prepared to strike, and then found himself unable to.

It looked so human still, compared to the others. His blue suit barely wrinkled, his hair was still neatly slicked back and he still clung to his briefcase that he had surely been bring to work with him. Matthew couldn't do it; he was still human, right? The young Canadian had never killed another human being, strike that he hadn't killed anything. When he was young, and even to this day, he tried to avoid even killing insects. How could he bring himself to bash in this man's skull if he couldn't even step on an ant or worm without feeling the need to burst into tears. "MATTHEW!" his brother exclaimed, panic laced his voice. Snapping out of his current thoughts, he had noticed that his brother had attempted to free himself but had only managed to bring himself closer to the zombie. "What are you waiting for?"

He wanted to help his brother, he did, but his arms were frozen up in the air and tears started falling from his eyes once more. _'No…'_ he thought to himself as the infected man brought his mouth closer and closer to his brother's neck, _'No… No…'_ "NO!" A shot rang through the air which caused Matthew to jump slightly. Slowly, the zombie released his brother's hood and fell to the tar. Both brothers looked over to where the shoot had come from. A sandy blonde stood, holding a simple looking handgun. He looked to be slightly older than both of them, he was dressed in dark, ripped denim jeans, a worn out looking pair of sneakers, and what looked to most likely be a band t-shirt, but Alfred didn't recognize the band.

"Over here!" the man shouted, lowering the gun and motioning to the other two to follow him with his free hand as he started running down the alley way. With no other options in sight and the zombies slowly closing in, the pair darted after the man,


	3. Momentarily Safe

**AN: So, this chapter is more of a character introduction chapter than anything else. Just a heads up**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story except the story idea itself.**

oOoOoOo

The twins continued to follow the stranger down the alley way. It seemed to go on forever, so many turns and dead ends. They thought they'd never stop running until the man in front of them stopped at a door. He knocked a couple times, a little frantically at that, before the door slowly opened to reveal another man, taller than all three of them with short, spiky whiteish-grey hair and eyes as red as blood. He grinned, revealing two rows of pearly white teeth. "Welcome back Artie." He said, then he looked back at the two boy, "And guests."

"Out of the way, idiot, they might still be following us." He mumbled, pushing past the albino. Alfred and Matthew just kind of stood outside the door, waiting, but not sure what for.

"Well, what are you waiting for, huh? An invitation? Get your asses in here!" the man in the door way commanded. They quickly shuffled inside and the man shut the door behind them and locked it. Both of them were still panting slightly, trying to regain their breaths after they had just run so much. As they tried to recover, they took a look at their new surroundings. It was rather dark, a few candles lit here and there. Apparently the hotel wasn't the only place to lose power. There was a staircase that presumably lead up to the next floor, which the green-eyed man was currently sitting on, also catching his breath. To the left of the stairs was a hallway with two doors. One at the very end of the hallway and another on the wall to the very left. The walls were colored a dull shade of grey and the floor was made out of some type of wood. All in all, the place seemed kind of old.

"Gilbert, go tell that Frog to bring us some water would you? Also, would you go check on everyone if you don't mind, I'd like a status report." The blonde breathed, wiping the sweat off of his forehead.

"Sure, why not." The silverette said with a smile and started down the hall, "Don't worry, the awesome me will be back in a little bit!" They heard the door slam and then it was dead quite except for the trio's breathing.

"It worries me how happy he is sometimes…" the man on the staircase said, standing and walking over to the twins, extending a hand, "The names Arthur, I expect you to call me so, under no circumstances will you call me by anything else, understand?"

"Hello Arthur, my name's Alfred, and this is Matthew," He motioned to his brother, "And you seem like a bright, friendly, cheerful person with a wonderful personality." This statement was laced with tons of sarcasm. Then he took the man's hand and shook it roughly. Arthur growled.

"Need I remind you," he started, anger present in his voice, pulling his hand away from the American's "That I just saved your life."

"I-I'm so sorry about my brother, he doesn't mean it…" Matthew threw in, then he jabbed his brother with his elbow, "Right Al?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry, that was really rude of me after what you just did. It's just kinda my personality, y'know?" He muttered. Arthur sighed.

"I suppose it's fine…" he said, running a hand through his hair, "Anyway, what happened back there?"

"Uhm, well…" Matthew said quietly, "Long story short I guess, we accidently attracted too much attention and ended up running from those… Things. Then, Al got snagged by one of them. I… I was going to hit it but I just couldn't do it…" His eyes fell on the floor and he gripped tighter at the wooden table leg. Alfred looked sadly at his brother before wrapping an arm around him.

"It's ok Mattie-"

"It most certainly is NOT ok!" Arthur cut in, "Unless you don't want to live!"

"Listen, relax he-" Alfred started, but he was cut off once more by Arthur.

"You need to learn that those things out there aren't people anymore! And I don't care if you've never killed anything in your life, my little brother-" He paused and gritted his teeth before continuing, "Even HE killed one, you have to learn to block your emotions towards those creatures. Unless you want to get yourself or someone else killed." Arthur glanced at Alfred then back to Matthew. "I've seen too many people die that way…" Then he turned and headed up the stairs without another word and left the two in silence until the other man came back into the entry way with three glasses of water.

"Hey the- Oh, where'd Artie go?" he said, looking around.

"Ah, he got mad I guess so he went upstairs…" Alfred said, pointing up at the staircase.

"Ah, I see, he has such a temper." The silverette said with a grin as he handed them their water. Alfred took his gratefully but Matthew just continued to look at the floor and grip his weapon tightly in his hands. Sighing, the man set the cups down and walked in front of the Canadian.

"Listen kid, I'm sorry about whatever Arthur yelled at you about, but I'm sure he was just trying to look out for you. Don't be so hard on yourself, ok?" he said, ruffling the younger blonde's hair and smiling down at him. Said boy blushed and nodded, setting down the table leg.

"Oh, name's Gilbert, by the way." He said, picking up the glasses once more and giving on to Matthew, "I'm the most awesome person here, just saying." Matthew took the cup and sipped from it, Alfred's was already gone. "Oh! I should probably introduce you to everyone else while Artie cools down a bit. C'mon." He walked back into the door he had not moments ago come out of, the twins following behind. They entered into what looked to be a sitting room. In the room there were four people. Two sitting on a love seat, one leaning against a wall, another lounging in a chair.

"Oh, these must be the people Francis was talking about~!" Said the girl sitting on the couch who immediately hopped off of it and walked towards the three. She had long, wavy, chestnut brown hair that was down to her waist. A pink flower clip was placed on the side of her head. This girl, like Arthur, was wearing ripped up jeans but they clung more tightly to her legs. Combat boots were laced up on her feet and an army green tank clung loosely to her chest. Silver bracelets dangled from both her wrists. This girl smiled sweetly at the twins before she all but tackled them. "They're so adorable!"

"Miss Elizaveta, please quiet down." Said the other person sitting on the couch. He had short black hair and brown eyes. On his black t-shirt were a few people from some animated show the twins had never seen. Black skinny jeans clung tightly to his legs. All topped off with laced up, high top, black and white, converses.

"Ah, c'mon Kiku, you're no fun." Elizaveta said, curling her lips into a pout, releasing the two from her grasp.

"It may really be in your best interest, though, to quiet down a little miss…" Said the man leaning against the wall, a slight smirk spread across his face. His hair was grayish blonde. Wrapped around his neck was a rather long, white scarf. A tan trench coat covered most of his body and on his feet were a pair of black boots. "Besides, they're not THAT cute. And honestly, the one with the short hair is kind of chubby."

"Excuse me?" the American said, glaring at the other man.

"Now now, let's all be reasonable." the man from the chair said in a heavy French accent as he stood from said chair. His blonde hair was pulled up into a small ponytail by a dark red ribbon to match his v-neck, long sleeved shirt. Black dress pants accompanied black dress shoes. "We all need to get along until this whole thing blows over."

"It's not going to blow over, Francis." Came a voice from behind the twins. Everyone's eyes immediately fell on Arthur, who was now standing in the door way. "Haven't you seen the movies? It never ends."

"Angleterre, don't be so negative, there has to be a silver lining to all of this." Francis said, walking over to the other man and putting a hand on his shoulder but it was immediately swatted off.

"Yeah, a silver lining. Take a look around, people are eating each other!" he shouted, "The dead are coming back to life and killing whoever they can get their hands on! Where is the bloody silver lining?" The room fell into a complete silence. They didn't want to admit it, but they all knew deep down that Arthur was right. Matthew clutched at the sleeve of his brother's shirt, which Gilbert seemed to notice.

"Arthur, just calm down, don't scare the newbies, ok?" Gilbert said in a calm tone.

"Please, I'm sure the little baby can handle this." Arthur said, turning towards Matthew, "Oh wait, he can't even handle a single zombie, my bad."

"Hey, don't talk about him like that!" Alfred growled, wrapping an arm around Matthew defensively.

"Listen, it's not my fau-" Arthur was interrupted by a loud banging on the door. It grew silent once more except for the loud banging noises coming from the hall. "Shit… Did they seriously follow us all the way here?" Ivan peeked out the curtain so he could see what was going on. Sure enough, there were two zombies banging their fists on the door to the small apartment complex the group had decidedly taken shelter in.

"There's only two out there." He said, returning to his previous position on the wall.

"Maybe they'll just go away if we're really quiet…" Kiku said softly.

"Maybe, but what if they break the door down?" Francis said worriedly, "And from what Angleterre has told me, there may be more behind the two."

"I say bring 'em on!" Elizaveta said, smirking and grabbing a frying pan off of the coffee table that was placed in the middle of the room, "Give me two minutes with those bastards, I'll-"

"Liz, please, that might not be the most awesome idea at the moment." Gilbert said, "We can't risk anything…"

"Heh, it's cute that you're worried dear, but I can handle myself just fine. Unlike some people." She said.

"Ugh, that was one time-!"

"Ladies, ladies," Francis interjected, "You're both beautiful. Now can we think of what we're going to do?"

"What we're gonna do is leave." Arthur said, starting to gather up some things, "Everyone, gather up what you need and meet up back here when you're done." He handed the American a handgun before disappearing out the door once again. Everyone got up from where they were and started collecting. Apparently no one hand any objections to this plan. Alfred looked the gun over a few times. To be perfectly honest, he'd never used a gun before. His dad had always said he would teach him one day, but work always kept the older man occupied. This reminded him of what they had been doing before Arthur had found them.

"We need to get our parents." Alfred said. At that moment, Arthur reemerged with a backpack on his back and his handgun.

"They're dead." He said flatly. Matthew looked like he was about to cry.

"Arthur, don't say things like that!" Gilbert growled.

"But it's probably true." Ivan said as he reloaded his double barrel shotgun, "It's the most logical conclusion."

"But can't we at least check?" Alfred exclaimed.

"It would be a waste of ti-"

"We went back for Peter." Gilbert stated. Arthur tensed at the mention of his younger brother but then relaxed.

"Fine, but I can't say I didn't warn you…" Arthur grumbled, "Where do they live?"

"Birchin Lane." Matthew said.

"That's not too far from here." Elizaveta chimed in, "I used to live there."

"So you know how to get there?" The young Canadian asked. He didn't know how to get there anymore unless they went back the way they came, which was obviously out of the question.

"Of course." She said, smiling at Matthew.

"Ok, then you'll be leading the way." Arthur said, "Is everybody ready?"

"Oui." Francis.

"Ja." Gilbert.

"Igen!" Elizaveta.

"Hai." Kiku.

"Da." Ivan

"Everyone just say YES. There's no need to revert to a different bloody language." Arthur sighed, "Ok then, let's-" The sound of wood breaking interrupted him followed by breaking glass. Everyone turned to see a pile of glass lying on the floor and the curtains were now moving. They could only deduce the door had met the same fate as that poor window. "Shit! Everyone, move!" he shouted frantically. Elizaveta nodded before scampering out of the lounge area, followed by everyone else. Matthew, who was the second to last in the line, stopped to see a hand that had busted through the door, clawing at the air. Gilbert, who was last, grabbed his arm and tugged him out the back door.

"Keep moving Birdie!" he exclaimed. Everyone then began to dart down the alley ways, following Elizaveta. All the while, Matthew and Alfred could only prey that their parents were still ok.

oOoOoOo

AN: It has come to my attention that Gilbert was the only one I didn't describe in full detail. Oh well. XP

Oh, and for those of you who don't know:

Elizaveta =Hungary

Gilbert=Prussia

Francis=France

Ivan=Russia

Kiku=Japan

Arthur=England.

And remember kids, google translate is your friend. :'D


	4. From Bad to Worse

**AN: Oh… My God… It has been SO long since I updated! I am sosososo sorry to the people who actually read and liked this! I'm also sorry that this chapter is shorter and kind of rushed! I hope you like it! Consider it a Christmas present of sorts. I hope you enjoy! :'D**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story except the story idea itself.**

**oOoOoOo**

The group ran down the twisting and turning alleyways. They encountered a few zombies, which seemed to be rare to happen upon in the alleys. These zombies were made quick work of. The group Matthew and Alfred happened upon seemed to be very skilled, well, at least some of the members were. Elizaveta was extremely skilled with her frying pan; it was an odd choice for a weapon, that's for sure, but she sure knew how to use it to her advantage. Ivan had great aim, as did Arthur. Rarely would they miss a headshot. Gilbert seemed to favor a metallic baseball bat. Like Elizaveta, he was able to use said weapon with great skill. Francis and Kiku seemed the ones that would stay back in the event of an encounter, unless it was absolutely necessary for them to get involved in the fight. Although, at the moment Alfred and Matthew were the same as them.

Alfred just stood back, awkwardly holding the gun while Matthew stood behind him. They weren't doing anything to help in combat-not that everyone else really needed help- but they still felt weak and useless. Matthew felt especially bad for not doing anything. After Arthur had yelled at him about freezing up before he had wanted to prove him wrong, so far that didn't seem to be going so well for the young Canadian. The group had finally managed to exit out of the maze that could be called an alleyway. Elizaveta paused to check the street names and such to make sure she had gone the right way. With a nod to the group she started running to the right, of course the rest followed.

As it turned out, the house hadn't been so far away from their previous location. In matter of minutes the group had arrived at the medium sized house that Alfred and Matthew's parents lived in. The white picket fence that surrounded the house was stained with blood and broken in certain places. A few bodies lay near it as well, mangled and torn. The group walked to the house and up the steps. "Ok everyone," Arthur started, turning so he was facing the rest of the group, "Gilbert, you're going to be coming inside with Alfred, Matthew and I. While we check things out inside I expect the rest of you to stand guard on the porch."

"Got it." Gilbert said, grinning, as the rest of the group nodded in agreement. Arthur slowly opened the door. He peaked his head in and scanned the inside before deeming it to be safe. As he entered the house, he gestured to the other three behind him to follow. Alfred followed after, then Matthew, and then Gilbert. They closed the door behind them, looking around the room they had just entered. It seemed almost untouched minus a vase full of roses that had been knocked over and a blood trail leading in two different directions, up the wooden staircase and into a different room. Matthew and Alfred both froze at seeing the blood, worry the only visible emotion on their faces.

"Ok, this is how we'll do this," Arthur started, voice lowering to barely a whisper, "Alfred and I will go upstairs, you two will go through that door. Whatever you do, no matter what you find or what you see, don't scream or make _any_ loud noises. Understood?" Matthew and Alfred both nodded silently. "Good, now come on." Arthur began walking up the stairs, Alfred hesitantly followed after, leaving Matthew and Gilbert standing alone in the living room. The younger of the two chewed on his bottom lip as he stared at the door. He _really_ didn't want to go in there. He felt an arm wrap around his shoulder and give a light squeeze.

"Don't worry Birdie, I'll go in first." He said quietly before releasing the other male and walking over to the door. Slowly he opened it, peering in and then closed it shortly after and turned to face Matthew, he looked like a mix of sad and sick. Concern passed over Matthew's features as he walked over to Gilbert.

"What did you see?" He asked, panic weaving its way into his voice.

"Nothing you have to see…" The other said softly. Matthew pushed past Gilbert and opened the door before he could get a word in edge wise. He froze upon entering the room. It was the kitchen; Matthew remembered the striped white and light orange wall paper and the oak flooring. The white cabinets that were always overflowing with different kinds of dishes, old and new, because his mother claimed they were all too lovely to even consider throwing them away. He remembered the first time his father, Alfred and him had made pancakes together; they had turned out horrible though because Alfred had added too much water. Alfred had been really upset and started crying but their parents just laughed and told him it was ok, that they could just go out for pancakes. He remembered his mother and how much she loved to cook; she would always try out new recipes and even tried to make some of her own.

There were so many memories in here from his childhood, ones with his mother, who was now lying in a mangled bloody mess on the hardwood floor. Blonde hair a tangled mess, her favorite white sundress with yellow daisies was torn in a couple places and spattered with blood. Matthew wasn't close enough to see her eyes, he didn't want to be, but he imagined they were now dull, no longer bright blue and full of life. It was too much, he didn't know what to do, he couldn't think, couldn't move, couldn't function whatsoever. Suddenly he couldn't see anything and he felt himself being pulled back, away from the kitchen, away from the lifeless body on the floor that once was his mother. It was silent for a moment in the room until: "Was that..?"

"My mother." Matthew chocked, tears finally starting to fall from his eyes. Gilbert retracted his hand and Matthew was able to see once again, greeted with the sight of the living room now instead of the scene in the kitchen.

"I told you-" Gilbert started again but was cut off when Matthew quickly turned and latched onto him, burying his face in his shirt and all but sobbing. Shaking off the initial surprise Gilbert wrapped one arm around him and placed a hand on the younger's head, stroking his hair softly. Neither of them spoke, Gilbert just let Matthew get it all out, he didn't really know what to say anyway, he had never been one to be very good at comforting other people. They stayed like that for a little bit until they both heard a curse that sounded undeniably British and soon after a loud thump. Not two minutes later both Alfred and Arthur came walking quickly down the stairs, Alfred had a little blood splattered on him. Gilbert released Matthew so he could go over to Alfred.

"Is dad..?" He said, voice barely audible. Alfred looked at him with a pained expression and just shook his head.

"Let's go Matt…" Alfred uttered, already being able to tell by Matthew's red eyes that their mom had met the same fate. He didn't want to be in here anymore. The American didn't know if he was going to be sick or cry, he didn't want to stay long enough to find out. Taking his younger brother by the hand they walked out of the house they'd grown up in. They walked out of their parents resting place, their tomb. Everyone turned to face them as the four walked out of the house.

"There wasn't a problem while you were in." Kiku said softly.

"Well, that's good at least." Arthur muttered, running a hand through his hair.

"Did you find anything?" Francis asked, Arthur shot him a look that basically shouted: _Read the atmosphere before opening your mouth, idiot._ No one spoke for a minute, it was silent minus the soft chirping of a bird in the distance.

"We need to get moving again." Arthur stated, "But I just realized we hadn't planned out where to go after…"

"We could just stay here for now?" Ivan suggested.

"N-No… I can't…" Matthew whispered.

"But I do not see why not? We know it is safe of zombies and it seems to be a very quiet neighborhood-"

"We're _NOT_ staying here Ivan!" Gilbert hissed.

"We could stay at my old house?" Elizaveta interjected, "It's seriously just a few houses down."

"That should be fine for now. Once we've settled in we can discuss where we'll be heading next." Arthur said, "Any objections?" No one spoke so Arthur took that as a no. "Good, then lead the way Liz." She did as she was told; leading the group a little ways until they reached the house that was painted a light shade of green and a bit smaller compared to the other houses. Luckily they hadn't managed to run into any of the creatures on their way there.

"Here we are!" She said, smiling, "Ah, it's been a long time! Oy, Gilbert, remember Roderich? We used to live here together before he went off to study music… I hope he's ok." Her expression faltered, smile falling into a small frown. The Prussian just walked up to her and patted her on the back.

"I'm sure he's fine Liz, don't worry. He's all the way in Austria. I doubt whatever we have here has reached that far yet." He said. She just gave a small nod and a smile up at the man.

"C'mon, let's go." Arthur said, leading everyone into the house. Once inside the group split up to explore the inside of the house, checking to make sure none of the creatures had gotten in. After an all clear was given they made a move to lock all the doors and windows, using some furniture to barricade the windows downstairs as well.

"Hmm… The people who live here now sure have good taste." Elizaveta commented after looking around the house.

"Lived." Arthur corrected her; she just shot him a look before going upstairs with the rest of the group. Alfred was sitting on the couch, elbows on his knees and resting his head in his hands. Arthur sighed softly before going to sit by the American. "Hey, you all right?" he asked, putting a hand on the other's back. The younger man remained silent for a minute before answering.

"Does it look like I am?" he spat.

"I was just asking, no need to get touchy you ungrateful git!" They were both silent for a moment, "Look, I didn't mean that, I'm sorry. I know you're hurting, you and Matthew both, I understand and I know what you're going through. Earlier this morning I lost my younger brother to those monsters…" A pause to collect himself before continuing. "I just think that holding it in is a bad idea. When it registered that Peter was dead I cried like a baby and I _never_ cry, let me tell you. You haven't cried at all however, you haven't done anything, said anything about what happened back there. It's not good to bottle it up you know; don't be afraid to cry in front of me either. I know I'm an ass sometimes but I'm not that big of an ass to make fun of you or anything." Another silence before Alfred sat up straight, not once did he look at Arthur, just stared ahead at the wall, a sad smile on his face.

"How old was your brother, Arthur?" He asked quietly.

"Eleven… Twelve next week…"

"So young… Our parents were still young too… They were barely in their forties… All of them had so much time left… So much they still could've done… I-It's not fair…" Alfred chocked, finally letting the tears fall from his eyes and roll down his cheeks which progressively turned to sobbing. Arthur put an arm around his shoulders and let the other man rest his head on his shoulder. If this was only the beginning, he wondered what hardships they'd possibly have to face in the future. He knew from here on in, as the pessimist he was, things were only bound to get worse.


End file.
